Dr Claudine Bowyer-Crane

Profile

Biography

I gained my BSc Psychology at the University of York where I remained to complete my PhD with Professor Maggie Snowling looking at the relationship between inference generation and reading comprehension in children.

I went on to work as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at York, managing a project evaluating effective intervention for children with language difficulties. In addition I held the position of research tutor in the Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Hull. I joined the team at Sheffield Hallam University as a Lecturer in 2008, and was appointed Senior Lecturer in 2009.

In September 2012 I joined the Psychology in Education Research Centre at York as a Senior Lecturer.

Research

Overview

My research is broadly in the field of children’s reading and language development although I am particularly interested in atypical development and the interplay between language and literacy skills. I work collaboratively with academic colleagues and early years professionals from across the UK and am keen to forge links between research and practice.

My work mainly focuses on the development and evaluation of interventions for children with early language difficulties. More recently I have been exploring reading and language development in children learning English as an Additional Language. I am theme lead for the Language and Communication Workstream of the Better Start Bradford project.

I am keen to talk to students interested in reading comprehension development and disorders, vocabulary instruction, and the learning needs of children with English as an additional language.

I have recently launched the interdisciplinary research group Language and Reading Research in Yorkshire (LARRY) bringing together collaborators from across the region who are interested in children’s reading and language development.

Research group(s)

Supervision

Geneffa Virjee is looking at teaching English to primary school pupils in France

Marta Wesierska is looking at reading and language development in EAL children. (co-supervision with Dr Emma Hayiou-Thomas, Department of Psychology, University of York)

Natalie Smith is looking at longitudinal predictors of reading comprehension in children learning EAL. (co-supervisoion with Dr Jenny Thomson, Department of Human Communications Sciences, University of Sheffield)

Sarah Crellin is looking at feedback and response in primary school children

Jenan Alrefae is looking at motivation in teaching and learning English in public and private schools in Kuwait

External activities

Memberships

I am an active member of the Centre for Reading and Language, a virtual research centre with colleagues at the University of Oxford, UCL, University of Sheffield, University of Warwick, Institute of Education and other international institutions and have given invited talks to various research groups including University of Oxford; University of Warwick; Nottingham Trent University. I have also collaborated with colleagues from the Centre for Education and Inclusion Research, Sheffield Hallam University.

I am a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the British Psychological Society with Chartered Status (CPsychol).

Editorial duties

I regularly review manuscripts for journals such as Scientific Studies of Reading, British Journal of Educational Psychology, International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders and Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, and am currently acting as Associate Editor for the Journal of Research in Reading.